Why is it that many Christians are deceived into believing many doctrines of devils although the Bible does not support those doctrines? Why is it that people so easily believe other people’s spiritual experiences although those experiences are not supported by the Scriptures? Spiritual deception is a big problem in the body of Christ.
I think it is closely connected to the power of “word of mouth”. When somebody testifies of the effectiveness of a new product that he or she bought and how well it performed or how effective it has done the job, people believe it quite easily. Why? Because when somebody testifies of his personal experiences it makes the facts so much more believable, authentic or trustworthy. Now I agree that this is all good when recommending a book or a new product on the market but it is absolutely not a good thing when it comes to spiritual matters.
The human mind is easily deceived and one of the devil’s strategies is to exploit this aspect of mankind. This makes deception a lot easier for him. How do we counter this problem? By believing the word of God and by being a lot more cautious when it comes to the testimonies of people.
I have written a few posts on this subject already. Have You Done The Deception Test Yet? discusses the basic principles of why we are being deceived so easily. Common Mistakes Exorcists Often Make is a very good example of the mistakes that exorcists make as a result of assumptions based on their personal observations and experiences. This usually results in a lot of deceptions when people watch YouTube videos observing these exorcists in action. Another good example is the post, The Danger Of Dreams And Visions. This post explains the human factor influencing the details or the facts when people testify of the dreams or the visions that they experienced.
Another post that is closely related to this is Can Satan Deceive Us Through Dreams And Visions?. (By the way, he cannot). If you do not want to be deceived by people or by other evil forces, willfully or unintentional, you need to read all these posts. You can only benefit from that.
It is just not a good practice to believe everything that people tell us based on the personal observations that they make. Even if the statements they make feel or seem so authentic. We always need to judge those statements based on what the Bible says about those subjects or doctrines. The problem is that Christians do not always know the truth (Biblical truths) and that is a very big problem. Another problem is the fact that a lot of Christians have been taught erroneous doctrines through the years and they already have a big disadvantage.
This causes them to be exposed and this is how really good and Spirit filled Christians are being deceived into believing doctrines of devils. If you do not know the true word of God you cannot recognize false statements or false doctrines.
The problem is that there are many false prophets and evil people out there. Some pretend to be Christians or that they are well informed on the particular subject. The reality is that many of them are in fact satanists or atheists or just plain ignorant people. This is what Paul said about this:
1 Timothy 4:1-2
Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils; Speaking lies in hypocrisy; having their conscience seared with a hot iron…
Unfortunately this warning is still applicable. Many people deceive many people in the church and elsewhere, on a daily basis, and it will never stop.
2 Corinthians 11:3
But I am afraid that, as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, your minds will be led astray from the simplicity and purity of devotion to Christ.
Mathew 24:4
And Jesus answered and said to them, “See to it that no one misleads you”.
2 Corinthians 11:13-15
For such men are false apostles, deceitful workers, disguising themselves as apostles of Christ. No wonder, for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light. Therefore it is not surprising if his servants also disguise themselves as servants of righteousness, whose end will be according to their deeds.
The unfortunate reality is however that:
People do interpret their dreams, visions and experiences incorrectly.
People just lie outright about their experiences. Some never saw a vision in their lives yet they zealously testify of what God showed them in a particular vision.
People add to and subtract details about the visions or the dreams they had.
People have false experiences, especially satanists because of living in a world filled with all sorts of evil deceptions. The list goes on and on.
It is exactly for these reasons that we have been warned in the Bible to watch out for people who want to mislead us. Some do it unintentionally because they have been deceived themselves. Others do it on purpose. It sounds far fetched but I can assure you it is not.
In this post today I want to address a specific problem resulting in a lot of deceptions. This problem is the testimonies of former satanists or former witches.
We all know that the world that satanists and devil worshipers live in is a lot different from ours. They are constantly involved in all sorts of evil practices, atrocities, lies, deceit, and all sorts of abominations. Just listen to the testimonies of these people or read the books that they have written after they repented from their wicked ways. People like Doreen Irvine, Rebecca Brown, Jeff Harshbarger, Mike Leehan, Zachary King and Deborah Lipsky are just a few.
There are many others who testify on a daily basis about the dark evil lives that they lived and how God saved them. Of course the salvation of these people are just wonderful and we are so glad for them. God really made a huge difference in their lives. They are living testimonies of the love and the grace and of course the power of God.
However, many of these people are given a platform in the church from where they cause a lot of damage in the body of Christ. Unintentionally of course. We tend to forget that they have been involved with demonic spirits and they lived in a world filled with lies and deceit.
The world of a satanist is a whirlpool of hate, lies, conflict, evil, darkness, occultic rituals, sacrifices, witchcraft, control, fear, murder and other atrocities. What they do to each other is absolutely unbelievable. The world of a satanist is actually hell on earth. They are really kept captive in a world where there is no hope at all.
All these people have been deceived into becoming a part of the most evil kingdom that exists. The kingdom of Satan is dark, evil and treacherous. People getting involved with satanism do not know what they are letting themselves in for. They will be filled with evil, lies, deceitfulness and fraudulence which are in fact called doctrines of devils. The Bible calls it knowledge of the deep things of Satan:
Revelation 2:4
But to you I say, to the rest that are in Thyatira, as many as have not this teaching, who know not the deep things of Satan, as they are wont to say; I cast upon you none other burden.
This suggests that their minds will be filled with lies and deception. It is for this reason that the Bible calls the intellectual thinking, the demonic ways and the evil principles of this evil world, the doctrines of devils. For me it was quite a revelation to grasp that evil spirits create doctrines. These doctrines are carefully created by mixing the truth of the Bible with evil lies.
The devil and demons are in fact very intelligent beings. It is important to understand though, that intelligent does not mean wise. We see in life how very intelligent people completely reject God and the truths of the Bible. Some of them are scientists, professors, philosophers and even religious professors. These people have been deceived and they deceive many other people although they are very intelligent people.
The evil demonic creatures in the kingdom of darkness do not differ much from these evil people. They do know that God exists but they also chose to reject Him. They are also intelligent but also not wise. They have been deceived by Satan and they are also deceiving other demons. To know that demons deceive each other was quite a revelation to me. Just as people allow the intelligent but unwise people of this world to deceive them, so the demons of the kingdom of darkness allow other demons to deceive them.
It makes one think of the lies and deceit that we find in the world of mobsters and criminals. These guys cheat each other out of money and they create their own evil worlds of power, lust, greed and deceptions. That is where the doctrines of devils come from. Just as people allow the intellectuals of this world to teach them erroneous doctrines, so demons allow other demons to teach them doctrines of devils. What is so mind boggling is that these doctrines of devils are being taught to people, even Christians!
This sounds grave and terrible but the saying that “every cloud has a silver lining” is also true in this case. I have written a post explaining that the power of the creatures of this evil world is actually very limited. I also explained that there are three groups of people on this earth:
We have Spirit filled children of God.
We have natural people who are unsaved.
We have satanist and other people who have been deceived into getting involved in treacherous occultic religions like Islam which does not differ from satanism that much.
The level of exposure to demonic activities and influences in terms of these groups differs quit a lot:
Christians are the least exposed to demonic powers. Satan and his evil spirits cannot harm Christians at all. They just have no power over Christians except the ability to deceive them. They deceive them by tempting them into sin and they deceive them into not believing the word and the promises of God. They deceive them into unbelief. They cannot kill or harm a Christians in any way except to lie and to tempt. However, if they succeed doing this then a Christian is in trouble. This is when harm can occur. This is when the lies and the temptations can lead to all sorts of problems like sin, trouble, sickness, calamities and even death.
Natural people (People who are not saved) are a bit more exposed. Similar to Christians, Satan and his evil spirits cannot harm them at all. They just have no power over natural people except the ability to deceive them. They deceive them by tempting them into not believing the word and the promises of God. They deceive them into unbelief. They cannot kill or harm a natural person in any way except to lie and to tempt. However, if they succeed doing this then a natural person is in trouble. This is when harm can occur. This is when the lies and the temptations can lead to all sorts of problems like sin, trouble, sickness, calamities and even death. You may ask what the difference is between a Christian and a natural person? The one is saved and the other not (salvation). A Christian has the Spirit of God and the power of God in him and has therefore a far better chance to resist evil and temptations. It is for this reason that we often do not see much difference between the two groups of people. Very often their lives are a lot the same. I will explain this in a bit more detail below.
Satanists, witches and members of other occultic religions are a lot more exposed. These people willfully became part of the kingdom of darkness. They bowed down to the god of the kingdom of darkness and in doing so they gave up a lot of privileges and the protection that they enjoyed as a natural person. Remember that all peoples belong to God. Christians belong to God. Natural people belong to God and satanists belong to God. God has established principles that govern the lives of all these peoples. God also established principles that govern the lives of angels and even the lives of demons. There are spiritual laws that limit the power and the abilities of all these creatures. Absolutely nobody can do whatever he or she wants. We are all limited, even demons are limited and even angels are limited. God will never allow evil to do whatever they want in the lives of Christians, natural people or satanists. As I said, satanist are however a lot more exposed. Satan can pretty much do a lot of damage in these people’s lives. Even these people can do a lot of harm in each others lives. They actually wreck havoc in each others lives.
This is where former satanists and former witches are experiencing a lot of confusion. They made quite a lot of personal observations whilst they were involved with satanism:
They observed the interaction between demons.
They observed the interaction between demons and satanists.
They observed the interaction between demons and Christians.
They observed the interaction between demons and natural unsaved people.
They observed the interaction between satanists and Christians.
They observed the interaction between satanists and natural unsaved people.
They observed the interaction between satanists and other satanists.
All these interactions with all its dynamics must have been very confusing to them. In their minds they recall the interaction between demons and people and satanists and people. They cannot really differentiate between different groups of people. Not to mention the fact that they lived in a very deceitful world (kingdom of darkness). Many of them may be under the impression that a Spirit filled Christian is just as exposed to evil powers as a satanist. Even Christians are under that impression.
I already mentioned a post called, Can Satan Deceive Us Through Dreams And Visions?. Contrary to what many Christians believe, I explained in detail why Satan cannot give us dreams or visions. I explained why they (people) confuse the ability of Satan and demons (to appear to people in person) in order to cause deception with them being able to give us dreams or visions. This confusion is usually caused by a misinterpretation of this Scripture:
2 Corinthians 11:14
And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light.
They know that Satan has the ability to deceive people by transforming himself and they thought that this transformation includes the ability to give people dreams and visions. This is however not true. He can appear to people in order to deceive them but he cannot give them dreams or visions. This is an ability that only God has. Please read the post that I mentioned above. It explains this subject in detail.
Having said this, I am not so sure that this is the case with satanists. They willfully became part of the demonic world. They entered a very treacherous and deceptive spiritual world and are an integral part of this world. I am convinced that they fall under different spiritual laws than the other two groups of people. I won’t be surprised if demons can actually cause them to have all sorts of hallucinations, to see visions and to have dreams. However, you can be assured that those dreams or visions or hallucinations will be very deceitful.
It is for these reasons that I am very skeptical about the testimonies of former satanists and former witches. These people have been part of something very bad. Many of them believe, after they became Christians, that they have an advantage because they have personal or firsthand experience of the world of the kingdom of darkness. They know how the evil forces of this dark kingdom operate and they know all their strategies. They think they know what Christians should do to counter all these strategies. They think they know how the enemy influences Christians and so on.
The reality however, is that they do not have an advantage at all. They actually have a huge disadvantage. They were part of a very deceptive world and they were exposed to all sorts of demonic activities. There is just no way that they can trust whatever they saw or whatever they experienced in this deceitful world. They should pray that God remove all these experiences and observations from their memory so that they can have a new experience with Him based on the Bible.
I do listen to the testimonies of normal Christians (not former satanists) when they testify of dreams, visions and even when they testify that God took them to heaven or hell in order to teach them some truths about the kingdom of God. I do listen to their testimonies but I am always very cautious about these testimonies. I always make sure that whatever they say is supported by Scriptures. If it is not supported by Scriptures I ignore those statements. I eat the meat and I throw away the bones. In the past, many of these testimonies were a real blessing to me and very encouraging and uplifting.
However, with many of them I had to throw away quite a lot of bones. Why, because of the human factor. People add and subtract according to what is important to them or according to what they believe. Their personal beliefs contaminate their testimonies because they end up giving a report of what they believe and not only what they saw. They interpreted what they saw and then they give an account of what they interpreted and not what they actually saw.
This is evident when you watch YouTube videos about end times doctrines, the false doctrines of generational curses and spiritual warfare. This is why these false doctrines were so easily accepted in the church. When somebody testifies that they saw a vision, people believe those testimonies merely because the person said he saw it in a vision.
With former satanists or former witches I am always extra cautious. There is no way that I am recklessly accepting the testimonies of people in terms of what they saw or experienced whilst they were part of the most deceptive world that exists, no matter how authentic it seems! Even if it seems to be Biblical, because more often than not our own ignorance prevents us from judging if something is really Biblical or not. Read my post, Have You Done The Deception Test Yet?. You will be amazed how many statements and doctrines out there appear to be Biblical but proven not to be Biblical at all.
Most of the time these people (former satanists) have no clue what they really saw. What did they they really see or observe? Did they see anything authentic at all whilst they were serving the devil in the kingdom of darkness? Were they deceived in this kingdom? Absolutely! Were they made to see certain particular things? Absolutely! Why? So that they can play their part in spreading the doctrines of devils.
Because of the testimonies and actions of former satanists, former witches and exorcists, two of the most dangerous doctrines (generational curses and a twisted version of the doctrine of spiritual warfare), are widely believed in the body of Christ. Even though the Bible explicitly declares that generational curses ceased to exist. Read the following posts which prove this statement without a shadow of doubt: Have You Done The Deception Test Yet?, Common Mistakes Exorcists Often Make.
Although spiritual warfare is a reality, the Bible supports a totally different way of spiritual warfare. Read this post for more information on this subject: The truth about spiritual warfare.
Former satanists and former witches are unintentionally spreading a lot of false information and false doctrines about these two subjects based on personal observations. Let me give you a very sound rule which will always protect you from being deceived: Never ever build or create or believe doctrines based on personal observations. Personal observations cannot support doctrines in any way. It cannot even be used to confirm doctrines. We always need to go to the Bible in order to create, prove or confirm doctrines. There is no other way whatsoever.
This post today is just a bit of background information to make Christians aware of the underlying danger watching YouTube videos of former satanists or judging the authenticity of sermons by pastors using the testimonies of former satanists or former witches. Their testimonies can never be regarded trustworthy as long as it is based on what they observed and what they experienced whilst being a satanist. We need to be very cautious at all times in terms of this.
We love former satanists and former witches. We are glad they came to Christ and we embrace them as brothers and sisters in the body of Christ. We however need to protect ourselves against the unintentional deceptions that they pose.
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